Genetic Drift of rare neutral alleles in multiple populations
( f(B) = 0.05, N = 10, W0 = W1 = W2 = 1 )
In each of 100 populations of
size N = 10 with a single new neutral allele,
there are 2N = 20 alleles, and initial f(B)
= 0.05. A large majority of populations go to
f(B)
= 0.0 before 50 generations: five
go to fixation (f(B) = 1.0)
within 300 generations. In the absence of selection, for a
population with initial f(B), the expectation
of fixation per population by genetic drift is also f(B). Note that in the
last population that goes to fixation, f(B) has
fluctuated widely over time, above and below 0.5.
Figure & Text material © 2025 by Steven M. Carr